How is that supposed to work, Mr. Federal Judge?

Until two years ago, the name Yves Donzallaz was only known in legal circles. Subsequently, the federal judge was targeted by the SVP. In 2020, the party wanted to remove him from office because they did not forgive him for speaking out in 2019 for releasing thousands of UBS customer data to the French judiciary. The highlight: Donzallaz was a member of the SVP himself.

But the other factions in the Bundestag held their ground and he was confirmed in office by parliament – ​​as is required for federal judges every six years.

In the meantime, Lower Valais has left the SVP. And now the 61-year-old is about to take another career leap: In its upcoming winter session, Parliament will elect Donzallaz as the new president of the Federal Supreme Court. However, not everyone likes that in Lausanne.

His candidacy arouses suspicion

SonntagsBlick knows: When the 38 judges had to decide whether to support Yves Donzallaz’s candidacy, 15 spoke against him, only 20 were for him, three did not vote or abstained.

Where does this distrust come from? As a member of the federal court’s three-member administrative committee, Donzallaz was involved in a workplace investigation at the federal criminal court in Bellinzona, which was dealing with allegations of bullying and sexism. Donzallaz and the two co-authors conclude in their report that there is no reliable evidence for this.

The Administrative Commission, for its part, was heavily reprimanded by Parliament’s Audit Committee for this report: “The GPK cannot understand the Administrative Commission’s conclusion that there is no evidence of sexual assault of any kind, neither physical nor psychological sexual harassment.” Or, to put it simply, the three federal judges didn’t take the legitimate charges seriously enough.

Was Donzallaz not sensitive enough? Or maybe your head isn’t quite there? For there is another point that has been the subject of discussion in the hallowed halls of the Supreme Court. Judge Donzallaz published a treatise on Swiss-European medical law in 2021.

Judgments not written by yourself?

His study “Traité de droit médical” has it all, to put it in plain English. This is mainly because it consists of three parts with a total of 4418 pages. In Lausanne, people are amazed at Donzallaz’s creative power and wonder: how did his colleague manage this in addition to his full-time job as a federal judge?

Or did he also work for that during his working hours? Is it even conceivable that he relied too much on others for his statements—by simply signing the clerks’ statements at the end?

Yves Donzallaz was not available for an interview with SonntagsBlick, but answered questions in writing. On the accusation that he wrote his opus during working hours, he says: «No one has ever made this accusation to me and it is factually incorrect. I have worked on the newspaper for almost ten (!) years in my spare time, after work, on my weekends and during my holidays. That does not exclude the fact that I have worked on the newspaper at work in Lausanne. This was always and without exception in accordance with my judicial duties and duties.”

And how does Donzallaz respond to the accusation that he did not write the sentences himself? “My cooperation with the clerks and my involvement in the cases circulating is in line with what is customary in the court. In particular, this means that not every judge personally writes the draft for every verdict.”

Finally, what does Donzallaz think about the fact that 15 judges voted against him as the new president of the Federal Supreme Court? «I have no problem with my colleagues; that a minority of them may not have voted for me in the secret ballot is their right.”